On the top, however, it’s horrible. Support creates 4 very obvious terraces (sorry - the matte black doesn’t photograph well) and I can’t figure out how to fix it. I’ve tried painting the outside of the tenon for support, using PVA with zero top Z distance and interface spacing, reducing top interface spacing, increasing top interface layers. What am I missing?
The surfaces are “terraced” because they are sloped and the lower surface of the hook crosses five layers. The single, very bottom line on each layer appears the roughest as it is the least well supported. If you look at the interior of the hook, the lines will likely be very smooth.
Normal/grid supports might produce a slightly smoother result, at the cost of much more support filament. Thinner layers would also help, but take longer to print.
The hooks on the bottom of the frame are also “terraced”, but had more continuous support and are smoother.
It appears that these hooks will be hidden on the inside of an assembly, so I’m not sure how much appearance matters. A swipe with a deburring tool would clean up the edge pretty quickly.
For me I’ve found that thicker layers seems to start better on support. Thinner layers seems to have more issues. YMMV
To the OP, just a tip if you aren’t doing it already to test the area.
Drop the part into the bed to just above the portion that you are trying to test so you don’t have to print the whole model to test different options for printing.
